* Spyware on PCs can affect apps in the data center
Spyware was, until recently, mostly a consumer problem: home PCs infected with hundreds of pop-up-generating spybots. With the exception of keyloggers, spyware had often been seen as just an annoyance. But the threat to enterprises is much more serious.
As enterprise applications are increasingly delivered over the Web, the browser becomes the de facto platform for these mission-critical applications. Spyware can cripple the browser and prevent your users from accessing their applications and data.
Almost any browser can be infected with spyware, causing errors or crashes. If your enterprise application is Web-based, your infected browser may even affect the overall application performance. Enterprise applications may be programmed to work on many different browsers. If the application is coded using W3C-compliant markup languages, browsers such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Opera and Safari may all be used as clients. Some enterprise applications are programmed specifically for IE, using proprietary features such as ActiveX. IE’s ActiveX capabilities are a double-edged sword: enterprise applications can gain “richer” features by coding ActiveX components, but the ActiveX support makes the browser even more vulnerable to spyware.
The term “spyware” is applied to a broad range of malware. From a simple tracking cookie, to a Trojan keylogger, spyware can cause various problems for enterprise applications:
* Pop-up pages may appear at random. Due to cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, this could compromise enterprise data as a script running in one frame could read data from another. It is also annoying and a drain on productivity.
* If several spyware applications are running, the browser may be very slow.
* Spyware contains bugs, like any software, and can cause browser and operating system crashes or even security vulnerabilities.
For many years we have heard the promise, “All applications will be Web-based. Any day now!” Whether that’s true or not, the Web browser is undoubtedly an important platform for application delivery in the enterprise. Spyware is therefore a serious problem for enterprise environments. Browser-specific spyware is as harmful as operation system-specific viruses in that it can kill your application platform. Enterprise IT managers should consider taking preventative steps by installing a spyware-blocker, as well as a spyware-scanning suite.
